302 The Civetta, or Little Italian Owl. 



for, standing bolt upright, it curtsies incessantly, with its head 

 somewhat inclined forwards, whilst it keeps its eyes fixed on 

 the approaching object. This odd movement is peculiar to the 

 civetta alone. By it, the birds of the neighbourhood are de- 

 coyed to their destruction. Hence its value to the ranging 

 sportsman. Often and anon, as the inhabitants of Rome pass 

 through the bird-market at the Pantheon, they stop, and look, 

 and laugh at this pretty little captive owl, whilst it is performing 

 its ridiculous gesticulations. 



Its flesh is relished by the natives of Italy. You may see the 

 civetta, plucked and ready trussed for the spit, on the same stall 

 at which hawks, crows, jackdaws, jays, magpies, hedgehogs, 

 frogs, snails, and buzzards are offered for sale to the passing 

 conoscenti, who frequent the bird-market in quest of carnal 

 delicacies. The inhabitants of this country are apparently 

 blessed with stomachs as keen and strong as that of my old 

 black friend Daddy Quasshi, who could fatten on the grubs of 

 hornets, and on stinking fish. Indeed, it would appear from 

 what I have seen, that scarcely any thing which has had life in 

 it comes amiss to the Italians in the way of food, except the 

 Hanoverian rat, for I could often see this voracious and needy 

 intruder lying dead in the streets, and trodden under foot. 



Thinking that the civetta would be peculiarly useful to the 

 British horticulturist, not, by the way, in his kitchen, but in his 

 kitchen-garden, I determined to import a dozen of these birds 

 into our own country. And still, said I to myself, the world 

 will say it was a strange whim in me, to have brought owls all 

 the way from Italy to England ; seeing that owls, ay and 

 hawks too, are by no means scarce in our palaces, and in par- 

 liament, and on the magisterial benches. Be this as it may, 

 I agreed with a bird-vender in the market at the Pantheon for 

 a dozen young civettas ; and, having provided a commodious 

 cage for the journey, we left the Eternal City on the 20th of 

 July, 1842, for the land that gave me birth. 



At Genoa, the custom-house officers appeared inclined to 

 make me pay duty for my owls. " Gentlemen," said I, " these 

 birds are not for traffic ; neither are they foreigners : they are 

 from your own dear country, la bellissima Italia, and I have 

 already strong reason to believe that they are common in Genoa, 

 so that they can well be spared." The custom-house officers 

 smiled as I said this, and then they graciously allowed me and 

 my owls to proceed to the hotel, without abstracting a single 

 farthing from my pocket. 



We passed through the sunny regions of Piedmont with 

 delight, and over the snowy summit of Mount St. Gothard 

 without any loss, and thence we proceeded northward, through 

 Lucerne to Basle. Here, Monsieur Passavant, the banker, 



